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War Comes!January 1942 QST

January 1942 QST

These
articles are scanned and OCRed from old editions of the ARRL's QST magazine. Here is a list
of the QST articles I have already posted. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

It came as no surprise to amateur radio operators that their
operational privileges would be curtailed immediately after
the United States was drawn into World War II following
the Japanese Imperial Navy's attack on Pearl Harbor. After all
they were subject to the same kind of restriction during WWI.
Just as President Woodrow Wilson issued an executive order prohibiting
unauthorized transmissions by amateurs, President Roosevelt
had the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ban the radio
transmissions of Hams. The fear was that enemy intelligence
gathering posts would be able to divulge sensitive information
via 'coded' broadcasts, as well as the unintentional providing
of personnel and war machine manufacturing status across the
land. Such concerns were indeed justified. Amateur radio enthusiasts
were encouraged to join the military service either as active
members or as civilians lending their expertise to the effort
in defeating the Axis powers. Some Hams were upset over the
restrictions, but back in the day love of and service to country
was a more powerful motivator than personal interests, so the
vast majority willingly complied. In this article from the January
1942 edition of QST magazine, Mr. K.B. Warner admonishes
ARRL members to abide by the FCC's decree and to exploit the
provision for active civil emergency operation per pre-war conditions.
As duly noted, "Nature is no
respecter of military emergencies."

War Comes!

We Take Our Posts in the Country's Defense

K.B. Warner, W1EH

In time of emergency, amateur radio steps forward and applies
its specialized knowledge to the task of replacing and restoring
and supplementing the normal communications system. That is
our traditional responsibility - a tradition we have ourselves
built and a responsibility we have ourselves sought. War is
the gravest emergency of all, and it is now our duty to discharge
that traditional responsibility in the war emergency with discipline
and patriotic devotion.

Since December 7th, amateur radio has been operating under
wartime controls. Eight hours after the first bomb fell in Pearl
Harbor, amateur radio as we have known it in peace­time was
suspended for the duration. In its place, in the past five days,
the volunteer communication system upon which the civilian defense
of these shores will be built has begun to take form.

FCC's order suspending normal amateur radio, with its hamming
and chewing, should be examined simultaneously with its announcement
of a mechanism under which amateur stations whose operation
is essential to national defense are being returned to the air:

Order No. 87

At a session of the Federal Communications Commission held
at its offices in Washington, D, C., on the 8th day of December
1941;

Whereas a state of war exists between the United States and
the Imperial Japanese Government, and the withdrawal from private
use of all amateur frequencies is required for the purpose of
the National Defense;

It is ordered, that except as may hereafter be specifically
authorized by the Commission, no person shall engage in any
amateur radio operation in the continental United States, its
territories and possessions, and that all frequencies heretofore
allocated to amateur radio stations under Part 12 of the Rules
and Regulations Be, And They are hereby, withdrawn from use
by any person except as may hereafter be authorized by the Commission.

By order of the Commission:

- T. J. Slowie, Secretary.

Federal Communications Commission

Washington, D. C.

December 8, 1941

Notice to All Amateur Licensees

All amateur licensees are hereby notified that the Commission
has ordered the immediate suspension of all amateur radio operation
in the continental United States, its territories and possessions.
Under this action all amateur radio operation in the continental
United States, its territories and possessions is prohibited
until further notice. In any instances where amateur radio operation
is deemed to be required in connection with the national defense,
appropriate authorization to engage in such operation will be
issued but only upon application by a duly authorized federal,
state, or local official made to the Defense Communications
Board.

Pay particular attention to the language in the latter portion
of the notice: The way is open for every amateur whose services
are desired by proper officials to get back on the air and help.
We should perhaps say "desired and needed," because hams aren't
going to be able to get back on the air simply because they
want to or because they are "willing to help" or even because
they can get some small-fry or "unofficial" official to certify
them. Chiseling is definitely discouraged and there must be
a bona-fide defense need to be served. But once there is, the
route is open. Our situation, then, is that rather than being
off the air we are being resifted in what amounts to a species
of relicensing under DCB whenever it is apparent that a competent
official needs our help. Already, as we write, numerous amateur
groups and nets have been activated and returned to the air
for a purely defense purpose. It's a new kind of amateur radio
but it is still the familiar picture of amateurs and their gear
and their traditional skill and loyalty.

Special Authorization

Here is some practical information on the mechanism that
is permitting defense activities to retain the services of amateur
radio - although we should emphasize that in a rapidly-changing
situation the information we have today may not be entirely
reliable by the time this is in print. (Suggestion: Check official
broadcasts from WIAW.)

When an authorized public official, such as a governor or
a mayor, wires or writes DCB or FCC a description of his proposed
communication plan and a statement of why he has to have it,
together with the names, calls and addresses of the amateurs
he desires to serve in it, he may reasonably expect to receive
a prompt response to the effect that the named amateurs are
authorized to work in his system until further notice, as an
exception to Order 87, for communications directly connected
with national defense activities primarily relating to the defense
work in his charge. A copy of that authorization will be sent
to each individual amateur concerned and will be his operating
credentials.

Note carefully that no authorizations are issued direct to
an amateur or simply because an amateur wishes to offer his
services. Application for the activation of amateurs may be
made only by a duly-authorized federal, state or local official,
and must spring from a need. Moreover, that official cannot
be given a blanket authorization to permit operation by any
amateurs he wishes. He must first explain his plan and show
that the requested operation is necessary to perform a special
national-defense function, and then he must name the individual
amateurs concerned - not only their calls but their names and
addresses as well. One reason for this is that Washington and
the monitoring services must have a record of who has been authorized;
another is that authorization from DCB must be sent to each
individual amateur.

It will he noted that no stipulations of frequencies are required.
The thought at the moment is that it is proper and desirable
to permit the use of any band needed by an authorized official.
Therefore when operation is authorized it is subject to all
the usual FCC regulations and the special orders that have recently
governed us, but all the usual amateur bands are made available.
Most of the nets that have been authorized these last few days
have been voice systems on 2 1/2 and 5 meters but some are 80-meter
c.w. operation and some are 160-meter and 75-meter 'phone nets,
with or without connecting u.h.f. networks at each city.

While it is not permitted the individual amateur to get back
on the air solely under his own auspices, there is of course
no objection to amateurs, groups, nets and clubs explaining
the present mechanism to competent officials who have need of
amateur assistance; or to their doing some of the manual work
of typing the requests for the signature and certification of
the official. Certification, by the way, is not confined to
any stated language: when a proper official asks authorization
and asserts that he needs a certain amateur arrangement for
a specified defense purpose, that is sufficient certification.
There is no standard form, and requests may be telegraphic or
by mail. The state defense systems are better known and better
organized than many of the local ones and in some states OCD
organization is not very far advanced. If there is room for
any doubt about the recognition that DCB would give some particular
local coordinator of civilian defense, it would be better if
the request came from the mayor of the town, or from the chief
of police if that is a proper function of the latter in the
local plans.

A word here about DCB. Under an Executive Order recently
signed by the President, all the latter's wartime powers over
communications are lodged with DCB. It is at the very top of
the wartime communications picture. But DCB is a board, not
a commission with extensive personnel, and much of its work
will he done for it by FCC personnel. Net result is that the
applications we are talking about may be filed with either the
Defense Communications Board or the Federal Communications Commission
at Washington.

Headquarters urges that all League officials who have contact
with authorities who are using amateurs, or who ought to be
using them, bring to their attention the mechanism whereby amateur
stations may be reactivated and assist them in making requests
in proper form. We urge all amateurs to develop an association
with a defense activity that will permit them to be returned
to the air for that purpose, and then to do their best in the
discharge of such duties. Radio amateurs are needed - in some
places desperately. We believe we can count upon the amateurs
of the country to see their duty, to devote themselves to patriotic
service, and willingly to get back on the air for that purpose
in large numbers.

Some Cautions

The nation is at war. Complete Naval censorship of outgoing
international correspondence was instituted December 7th. Amateurs
in defense work are on their honor to censor themselves similarly.
The permits now given amateurs rigidly confine them to defense
operation. No ragchewing will be tolerated and the fellows who
engage in it will fare much worse than simply to lose their
permits. The NDO monitoring service daily receives lists of
the amateurs whose return to the air has been authorized and
it is a. safe bet that FBI will walk in pretty promptly on any
gatecrasher who is not specifically certified for defense operations.
As we value our return to the air, let there be no monkey business
about this. If we are undisciplined or just playing around,
or are incautious in our remarks, the War Department is practically
certain to wash us up promptly and permanently and we would
thereby forfeit our one chance to be on the air. They can't
take chances with us if we don't show ourselves to be absolutely
trustworthy. We'll all have a serious purpose but we mustn't
even be careless, not even for a moment.

It is also emphatically worthy of notice that the suddenness
of the emergency has given us tasks that were not originally
contemplated for us, so that we are in the presence of our one
big chance to make good. Let no careless amateur spoil this!

There are no specified details on what a net or group may
or may not do. The agency for whom the group is authorized is
in charge of its operation. If that agency says there may be
no closing of switches until there is traffic of that agency
to be handled, then there is no closing of switches. If that
agency orders daily or hourly testing of the net, that testing
is proper. If mayors or other proper local officials handling
civilian protection work say that u.h.f. rigs must be installed
and tested, that makes it proper for authorized amateurs to
do so. But testing means disciplined testing and there must
be no idle gossiping and chewing the fat.

Let it also be clearly understood that the amateur regulations
are in full effect on those who are put back en the air. That
means, among other things, that only licensed amateur operators
may control the equipment; that the required log must be kept;
and that great care must be taken to prevent unauthorized persons
from having access to the apparatus.

Civilian Protection

When war came, OCD's planning for civilian protection in
air raids was still incomplete. Naturally this work is now being
accelerated tremendously, particularly on the seaboards. Within
a few weeks it may be expected that every vulnerable community
will have its organization well in hand. We learn that each
local coordinator of civilian defense is being called upon to
appoint a competent communications administrator with the duty
of creating and managing the community communications plan.
It is under this official that we amateurs will participate
in the ARP work. Thinking over the communications facilities
that exist in cities with which we are familiar, it seems to
us that the only systems that satisfy the need for the primary
network are the wire telephones and the municipal signaling
systems. Other facilities inevitably will be pretty random and
catch-as-catch-can It is imperative that the community possess
a secondary system to go into operation whenever the primary
one is interrupted - or, for that matter, whenever it begins
to near its capacity, so that there may be retained in it some
elasticity for the traffic of higher priorities. The backbone
of this secondary system necessarily is amateur radio with its
u.h.f. Thousands of us are needed with our. homebuilt low-powered
gear, to aid the communities in which we have lived and worked.
Our job will be to bridge the gaps that occur in the primary
system, to deal with critical overloads, and to provide portable
or mobile service for incident officers, wardens and so on.

OCD is according definite recognition to amateurs. Instructions
are being sent the local volunteer enrollment centers that will
soon make it possible for all radio amateurs reporting locally
for registration to be "earmarked" exclusively for communications
work. In the meanwhile, we repeat that all amateurs interested
in the protection work in their community should register themselves
with the local ARRL Emergency Coordinator, which is our only
way to have a. group spokesman to represent us until the time
the communities open amateur enrollment and appoint the local
communication aide to the CD chief. Our Emergency Coordinators
have now been instructed by the League to report at once to
the local coordinators of civilian defense to arrange something
to serve during the critical period until organization can be
perfected, or to lay the facilities of our gang before the mayor
or chief of police in cities where OCD work is not yet sufficiently
advanced. See pages 7 and 8 of this issue for more information.

In the current situation no city in America can feel itself
entirely safe and some are definitely anything but immune. We
can see our job if trouble comes to our home town, we'll be
needed, for we are the only ones who can help when the wires
go dead. We must build movable self-powered u.h.f. sets after
the general prescriptions of QST - build them by the thousands!
We must enroll for operating work with our gear - temporarily
with our own ECs, later through the volunteer centers. We must
help our communities in the actual job of organizing and lend
them aid in securing the required special authorization for
amateur communication assistance.

Disaster Relief

All the foregoing arrangements relate to defense communications
in the military emergency. At the moment of writing, no provision
exists for the usual amateur aid in the event of interruption
of communications by natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes
or earthquakes. The activation of a defense net for this purpose
would seem to be unauthorized unless the agency for whom the
net was organized could establish that the disaster was also
imperiling national defense.

Officials of the League are urgently endeavoring to obtain
government approval of a formal plan whereunder amateurs may
maintain their time-honored duties in this field, in the knowledge
that Nature
is no respecter of military emergencies. Should a disaster
occur before such a plan is put into effect, the League will
urge FCC to broadcast special authority to all hams in the affected
area to get on the air and help. If this occurs, we can do the
usual job, but it will be no excuse for a clambake and again
we must confine ourselves strictly to the job in hand. Meanwhile
all amateurs must distinctly understand that unless they do
receive some such authority they may not come on to the air
for this purpose, even though communities are suffering.

Watch for W1AW

The regulatory situation is likely to change from day to
day, hour to hour. New rules may come out at any time. By special
federal authority, our headquarters station WIAW is remaining
indefinitely on the air, conveying government announcements
to amateurs and watching over our bands. Whenever there are
new needs or new rules affecting the amateur in defense work
or disaster work, it may be expected that W1AW will bring you
the news faster than any other means. Keep an ear out for it.

Tears and Cheers

If we had the time, in our rush to get these special pages
to press, we'd pause to shed a tear over the fact that for the
first time in over twenty-two years the fun and camaraderie
and rough-house of the amateur bands are stilled. Instead, we
have a call to arms. If we could afford the luxury of a more
leisurely mood, there are some deep-down-in-the-heart remarks
we might make about that situation, and some pointed ones we'd
like to get off on the cause of it all. But QST is basically
the medium of our particular art and we are already a group
of people schooled in industry, patience and conscientious application
to our responsibilities. In the position of America today, Headquarters
sees no need for flag-waving when it addresses the membership
of the American Radio Relay League. We are a mature group and
our emotions toward our country need no artificial stimulus.
The field of the League is amateur radio and we have here confined
ourselves to practical considerations in the application of
that skill to the nation's needs. The dear glad days are necessarily
gone for a while and there is no time or place for tears. Instead
of the old kind of amateur radio, our actions are now directed
solely to the assistance of the defense of the nation, at the
urgent request of competent officials. Our stations, our operating
ability, our devotion are being summoned for innumerable communications
tasks of the sort that only we are prepared to discharge. We
are now engaged - all of us - in the traditional duty of amateurs:
supplying all-essential communication in an emergency. Let it
be our high resolve that we shall never be found wanting!